Our Salmonella Food Poisoning Lawyers Describe the Evidence with Regard to the Probable Cause of the Salmonella Contamination of Products Incorporating Peanut Corporation of America Peanut Ingredients, Including Evidence of Dead Rodents and Rat Excrement in Proximity to Air-Intake Ventilating Processing Areas and Openings in the Roof Permitting Entry of Water Contaminated with Bird Excrement.
Below our salmonella food poisoning lawyers reprint one of several articles we have published pertaining to the outbreak of illness and 9 deaths resultng from salmonella contamination of peanut paste and other peanut ingredients at the Blakely Georgia and Plainview Texas peanut processing plants operated by Peanut Corporation of America. In the present article we describe the probable causes of the salmonella contamination, which we believe is linked to rat infestation and roofs that leaked rain water with bird excrement into the production areas. On another page we reprint an article discussing what we consider the "Itentional Misconduct, Fraud, and Conscious Disregard for Human Life and health by Peanut Corporation of America" which on the orders of PCA operator, Stewart Parnell, "let loose" the salmonella contaminated peanut products into the chain of commerce with knowledge and with indifference for the fact that the products were a health hazard. On another page we provide a "Peanut Corporation of America FDA Recall List" on which our salmonella food poisoning lawyers have listed the 2000 products manufactured from 2005 to date which authorities consider potentially salmonella contaminated and dangerous to public health. Our salmonella food poisoning lawyers also reprint on this site an article discussing the Peanut Corporation of America Bankruptcy in which our salmonella attorneys also make plain that there will be ample insurance and assets among the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in the chain of commerce to compensate victims of the salmonella outberak and those who have lost a loved one. We will also make every effort to update our information on our main "Salmonella Food Poisoning" page as our investigation progresses. You are also welcome to contact our office for additional information, and we provide free case consultations to those who suspect they have suffered salmonela poisoning, or who have lost a loved one to the salmonella outbreak. To contact our salmonella food poisoning lawyers, submit the "Salmonella Case Evaluation Request" and we will contact you to discuss your case.
Salmonella Food Poisoning Lawyers Describe the Probable Cause of Salmonella Contamination at the Blakely Georgia and Plainview Texas Peanut Corporation of America Plants.
Our salmonella lawyers continue to investigate the source of the salmonella contamination at the Peanut Corporation of America two processing plants in Blakely Georgia and Plainview Texas which led to at least 8 ,confirmed deaths and several hundred illnesses across more than 40 states and Canada. More than 2000 products have been recalled, the largest recall in United States history. The list may grow, but you may review the current list of products on our "Peanut Corporation of America FDA Recall List." It is important that families make certain that they do not have these products on their shelves or in their refrigerators because new cases of salmonella illness from ingestion of contaminated products from peanut butter to roasted peanuts to energy bars to ice cream continue to be reported. If you have these products you should contact the FDA with regard to the method of disposal.
Salmonella contamination occurs as the result of contact with infected animals, their excrement, and in some cases, contact with infected humans. The evidence is that there were large holes in the roof of the Peanut Corporation of America Blakely Georgia facility and reports that rainwater would leak also into the production area of the Plainview Texas plant, which is a known source of salmonella contamination resulting from bird excrement commonly found on roofs. In addition, there was evidence of holes in the walls of the facilities sufficiently large to permit rats to enter, and indeed, dead rodents and rodent excrement was found in a location next to the air intake servicing the Plainview Texas production area. Either or both of these sources of contamination were the probable cause of the contamination of the Peanut Corporation of America products.
A former assistant manager of the Plainview plant, Kennth Kendrik, who had worked there in 2006, two years prior to the recent scandal that has enveloped PCA, complained repeatedly to the Texas Department of Health about the leaking roofs which he stated he knew could cause a problem from the presence of bird excrement. The health department didn't investigate the Plainview plant until the FDA and CDC had traced certain of the salmonella product causing illness to the Blakely Georgia facility. But when they did investigate, they found an infested crawl space with dead rodents and rodent excrement near an air-exchange that ventilated the production rooms where granulated peanuts, roasted peanuts and peanut meal were processed. When the Texas officials tested the peanut products at the Plainview facility they confirmed that they were salmonella contaminated.
The Texas investigators also found mold on the walls of the facilities despite that PCA was well aware of the dangers of mold in food processing areas, having been found by federal investigators two decades earlier to have produced peanut butter with high levels of afflatoxin, a toxic mold.
As our salmonella food poisoning lawyers discuss on our page describing Peanut Corporation of America's Intentional Misconduct and Fraud, PCA and its operator, Stewart Parnell, ran a low cost business, cutting corners, electing not to destroy its products which tested positive for salmonella, as would have been standard practice in the industry. Rather, Parnell would order the plant managers to send samples out to a different laboratory to see if they could get a negative result for its products which had already tested positive for salmonella. In August 2008, for example, after receiving a negative result from a second laboratory after the first had found salmonella poisoning, Parnell kicked off an e-mail to his Plant manager stating "Okay, let's turn them loose then." As the salmonella outbreak spread across the United States, Parnell complained about the cost to his business of the delays associated with the positive salmonella tests. "The time lapse, besides the cost is costing us huge $$$$$," Parnell wrote in an October 2008 e-mail to plant manager. At a hearing before the United States House of Representatives, Energy and Commerce Committee, it was disclosed that Parnell had also shipped products testing positive for contamination to intermediate manufacturers with a homemade certificate falsely attesting to the products' purity.
*Most recent Jury Verdict:
$2.700,000.00 jury verdict in a medical and hospital drug fraud case involving 5 plaintiffs taken to trial in a single consolidated action. Mr. Henke also testified before Congress about this case at the invitation of the Chairman of the US House Judiciary, specifically on the important uses of punitive damages to set examples of those who by their conduct put the lives of others at risk maliciously and out of conscious disregard for their lives
*The results obtained in the cases listed were dependent upon the facts of the cases, and the results will differ in other cases based on different facts
$2.700,000.00 jury verdict in a medical and hospital drug fraud case involving 5 plaintiffs taken to trial in a single consolidated action. Mr. Henke also testified before Congress about this case at the invitation of the Chairman of the US House Judiciary, specifically on the important uses of punitive damages to set examples of those who by their conduct put the lives of others at risk maliciously and out of conscious disregard for their lives
*The results obtained in the cases listed were dependent upon the facts of the cases, and the results will differ in other cases based on different facts
Food Poisoning Lawyers for E coli HUS & Salmonella and Listeriosis Cases. Attorneys for California and National Outbreaks.
We are the Premier California Food Poisoning Lawyers, Ecoli HUS Salmonella and Listeriosis Attorneys, also representing victims of food poisoning outbreaks nationally.
Providing case evaluation for victims of the Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak. Spotlight: A Recent Food Poisoning Settlement:: One of our E coli HUS Attorneys obtained one of the largest multimillion dollar settlements ever achieved in an Ecoli HUS case, obtained October 1, 2006.
Consult the Food Poisening Lawyers page on the above practice areas menu for information about the stellar qualifications of our California food poisoning attorney Nick Allis and and food and drug lawyer Henke.
We are the Premier California Food Poisoning Lawyers, Ecoli HUS Salmonella and Listeriosis Attorneys, also representing victims of food poisoning outbreaks nationally.
Providing case evaluation for victims of the Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak. Spotlight: A Recent Food Poisoning Settlement:: One of our E coli HUS Attorneys obtained one of the largest multimillion dollar settlements ever achieved in an Ecoli HUS case, obtained October 1, 2006.
Consult the Food Poisening Lawyers page on the above practice areas menu for information about the stellar qualifications of our California food poisoning attorney Nick Allis and and food and drug lawyer Henke.
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